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Talk:SorryNotSorry/@comment-3575890-20160517172030
Just because it’s representation, doesn’t mean it’s good representation or an idealistic model by which to establish relationship goals. The fact is, Clexa is a hundred times more problematic than Bellarke, which is why I do not ship it. But Clexas rather than wanting to admit this to themselves, would sooner bury their heads in the sand and drag Bellarke to detract from the problems inherent in their ship. I love Bellarke, but I do not ship it blindly. I appreciate my ship for what it is rather than invent a fairytalesque fantasy of what it isn’t in my head like so many Clexas who just want to pretend that Clexa was flawless, Lexa was perfect, Bellamy is a soulless monster and Bellarke in turn is this horrible, abusive relationship with no redeeming qualities despite that Clexa had way more problems. It’s time to take off the rose-coloured goggles in order to fully appreciate your OTP. It’s okay to ship a pairing in spite of its problematic elements, although there are certain lines that should never be crossed, but it is not okay to blatantly dismiss these problematic elements by ignoring their existence. There are SO MANY reasons why people don’t ship Clexa that Clexa shippers would rather accuse these people of being homophobic than listen to the valid points they have to present: *Lexa is the reason that Clarke’s first love is dead. Worse yet, she was the one who put Clarke in the position of having to kill Finn to spare him from a comparably more painful death on Lexa’s orders. Clarke BEGGED Lexa to spare him. Instead, Lexa drove her to plunge a knife into his heart. This single act traumatized and destroyed Clarke. This reason alone is why I can’t ship it, but it’s not the only one. *Lexa basically manipulated Clarke into letting everyone in TonDC die. Yet another action that haunted Clarke for a very long time and facilitated the beginning of her downward spiral of regret and self-loathing *Lexa left Clarke to die. It’s really that simple. That isn’t to say I understand her motive or condemn her for them - on the contrary, from a political perspective, I understand completely, but this magnitude of a betrayal does not translate well into any semblance of a romance in my book. There’s really no going back from letting your supposed true love to be tortured and killed at the hands of your mutual enemy. Consequently, this action also led to Clarke having to make the most painfully traumatizing decision of her life. A choice that still keeps her lying awake at night and beating herself up over every day. So much of Clarke’s loss of self worth is attributed to this one horrible event in her life that Lexa is undeniably albeit inadvertently responsible for. *Lexa had Clarke forcibly dragged to her fortress where she kept her prisoner under specified terms and conditions of which only then Clarke could have her freedom *Clarke straight up abused Lexa. She spit in her face, screamed obscenities at her, even threatened to kill her and later almost followed through on that promise by lunging at her to hold a knife to her throat. Just because she didn’t follow through, does not make it okay, and it’s certainly not sweet or romantic that she didn’t kill Lexa. Au contraire, it was the final nail in the coffin for me. So in summation, I understand why Clexa might appeal to the masses, but it’s not a ship to be romanticized and held up as some beacon of representation when it really promotes toxicity within relationship dynamics. Not all of the relationship was bad. It had some redeeming qualities worth mentioning, but toxicity within the relationship history remains the same. I only wish more people were more aware of how problematic their ships are instead of championing them as though they have no flaws or any problematic aspects worth noting. Especially if they are going to shit all over one pairing in favour of a pairing that is equally if not exponentially MORE problematic.